$99 HP TouchPad Sale Sparks Half Price BlackBerry Playbook Deal
The BlackBerry PlayBook developed by Research In Motion is beginning to see its prices slashed after disappointing sales.
RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie reported that just 200,000 units were shipped to retailers for sale during the tablet first full quarter. This has prompted the price cuts to help sales.
RIM's Canadian affiliate Rogers began an employee sale of the PlayBook on September 14, which will last through December 1. All models of the PlayBook have seen 50 percent price cuts in the sale.
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The basic 16GB model has seen its prices slashed down to $249 from its original $499.99 while the high-end 64GB model has seen its prices slashed down to $399 down from $699.99.
Specs for the PlayBook include a 1 GHz dual-core processor, 1080 HD video camera with HD playback as well as forward and rear facing cameras, Flash 10.1 and HTML 5 support, 7.0" LCD touch screen, 1024x600 pixel resolution, eight-hour battery life, BlackBerry Messanger and Wi-Fi.
The 64GB Wi-Fi model of the Apple iPad 2 goes for $699.00.
Apple currently dominates the tablet computer market, outselling every other tablet computer. Most other tablet computers have experienced a significant lag in sales since the debut of the iPad in April 2010 and the iPad 2 in March 2011.
The HP TouchPad saw a similar fate this past summer after disappointing sales caused prices to be slashed all the way down to $99, from its original price of $499.
The $99 sale however sparked demand for the tablet and it began selling out at a number of stores. After purchase, many TouchPad users have stated that they prefer the HP tablet to the iPad.
The PlayBook may see similar drastic price cuts if it continues to see disappointing sales. Price cuts are soon expected on the retail level for the general public.
